Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday rejected revenue minister Adoor Prakash’s plea against the quick verification ordered by the Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court against him on his alleged role in the land deal involving self-styled godman Santhosh Madhavan. Justice P. Ubaid refused Mr Prakash’s plea for a stay, but directed the Vigilance to conduct a preliminary inquiry uninfluenced by media reports or the social media.
“The Court order was not to register a crime or to investigate it, but only to make a preliminary inquiry. The question of sanction does not arise at this stage, because the Vigilance and ACB is yet to form an opinion on registering a crime. In the present circumstances where there is no direction to register a crime, there is no necessity of any interim order at this stage,” the court held.
HC issues notices to godman
The Kerala High Court issued notices to Vishwas Mehta, additional chief secretary, revenue department, Santhosh Madhavan and B.M. Jayasankar, Managing Director, RMZ Eco World Infrastructure Ltd.
The court made it clear that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureay (VACB) should bear it in mind that the petitioner and others are not accused in a crime. They are only respondents in a proceeding, and it is yet to be looked into and decided whether they can be prosecuted on the complaint.
Advocate-General K.P. Dandapani submitted that the complainant had approached the Vigilance Court on the basis of a government order, but the order had already been withdrawn by another government order. The court directed the VACB to consider that aspect during the preliminary inquiry.
Mr Adoor Prakash argued that the direction for conducting a quick verification was totally without jurisdiction as the same was passed without obtaining sanction as held by the Supreme Court. In the absence of sanction, the direction for conducting a quick verification itself was illegal, he said.
